Firstly, thanks for the compliment on my post, Lush! :=) I always try to say something thoughtful when I post! I'd say that probably it was Tolkien himself who couldn't conceive of male-female friendship in the same sense as male-male friendship, simply as a result of the social situation in which he lived and thought. I do not have the advantage of having read the histories, other than LOTR and the Hobbit (the Silmarillion was so long ago and an abortive attempt then that I cannot claim to have read it), but I could see, even in his letter quoted previously, he denoted some exceptions.
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She saw nothing ahead of her but "female passivity" and was willing to do pretty much anything to escape from it. she was defeated in every area, denied Aragorn's love, forced to wait on the men, kept inside basically. Realistically, I think she was a little unbalanced.
When she does "come around" in the end we accuse her of accepting her male dominated role? True Tolkien didn't look too deeply into her thoughts, but I think something can be taken from the fact that she turns from war when she's no longer despairing.
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Sophia, I do agree that Eowyn is unbalanced, but so are her times. She seems to echo the state of her realm. I do not believe she is copping out when she turns to healing rather than fighting. I understand she has had an epiphany and the darkness is gone within her; anything that extracts that unhealthiness from her is a good thing. I do not believe that it necessarily is a one-to-one equivalency with laying down arms. This was simply an individual choice of Eowyn's. When the desire to fight is motivated by the desire for death, certainly it is not a proper warrior instinct, but a symptom of despair, much like what happened to Denethor. So I agree with what you say to a point. It seems to be a logical progression for Eowyn's character, rather than a cop-out. But superficially it would look like one (to someone who did not divine the sickness in Eowyn's soul).
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If there is a draft at some point in time (I'm not saying that's likely) than I have heard that there will immediately be a lawsuit for equal rights to include women in the draft. Man, that will be wierd. Women aren't made for that, it's plain fact. And what is so wrong with that? It's life. If you want it in a religious viewpoint, God made women that way, and men the other. Okay?
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Durelin, I must disagree with the absolute nature of your statement. Women are certainly made for childbearing and rearing, but they are also quite capable of practicing the warrior arts. One part of this concept that many do not get is that men would treat women differently on the battlefield, when, in fact, in cultures that welcome women as full warriors, these women reliquish their status as traditional 'nurturing women' when they take up arms and become targets and threats, the same as men. If a women chooses the way of the warrior, she accepts this danger, not, in Eowyn's case, as a death-wish, but as a natural consequence of being a defender.
The interesting thing about women is that they have a choice--to be defenders or nurturers. If they choose the nurturing path, then it is folly to leave their charges to defend others; it is a denial of their chosen responsibility.
The thing I am still considering is what choice did Eowyn have? She was pressed into the role of keeping the people of Rohan by her birth and position at the time of conflict. Her desire for a warrior's life and for death is a desire to break away from a role she has had no say in, a rebellion, rather than a life choice. Interesting character she is!
Cheers,
Lyta